


A Wolf in the Pride

by AnimalCops



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 02:36:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18379202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimalCops/pseuds/AnimalCops
Summary: Remus learns the truth from an enemy in the forest.





	A Wolf in the Pride

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly a fun way to explore my headcanons! Except the reason Remus was bitten. That one’s unfortunately true.

"A wolf that's been accepted into the pride of lions..." A voice purred out into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. 

Remus looked around, startled by the noise. The sun was falling behind the trees and the half moon was rising in the sky. Remus had thought a short stroll would get him out and about, it would keep his mind occupied, keep his thoughts away from the rising panic of exams and the end of the year. It was only his third year in Hogwarts but the pressure of classes and exams and homework and _hiding_. Everything was building to an overwhelming pressure. 

"Who-?" He was cut off by the sudden snap of a branch falling from a tree, crashing into the earth. 

"Oh, we mightn't have seen each other for such a long time, but I'd hope you'd have remembered me, Pup."

"No… No, you're not-" 

"I'm not? I'm not what?" The voice was drawing closer.

And Remus was frozen in his spot. He could feel himself shaking. Something was going to happen and he hadn't told anyone where he was. He could die right here, right now, and no one would know. He turned his head to the side, trying to find where the voice was coming from but it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

"Answer me, Little One. I'm not what?" It purred, louder now, so nearby but Remus couldn't see the source.

"You… You're not him. You _can't be_." Remus breathed softly, anxiety and fear bubbling inside him. His hands were shaking and he swallowed hard, clutching tightly at the wand in his hand. What could he do? Lumos? Alohamora? He couldn't think of any hexes, any jinxes, anything he learned that year. 

"Oh, but I am." 

He was there, suddenly, illuminated by the setting sun. The reds and golds highlighted features Remus would rather not see at all. Long dirty hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, earth and blood-stained skin, sharp fangs that glistened in the light. Most disturbing was that dead, blind, eye that was cut harshly by scars. The functional amber eye was focused on him. Remus shuddered, quickly looking away, moving his gaze to focus on the grass beneath his feet.

"It has been quite some time, Pup." Fenrir said, moving over to stand before the 13 year old. "How have you been?"

Remus swallowed, breath caught in his throat, he couldn't answer even if he wanted to.

“No?” The older man lowered his voice, tone changing, and Remus felt something strange tug at him. Something he had never felt before. Not unless it was a full moon, and those nights he was in too much pain and too lost in thoughts to ever notice. _Instinct_. 

He looked up at the werewolf that stood before him and took an immediate step back. Fenrir didn't advance, but merely tilted his head to the side just slightly, that amber eye tracking him like an animal watching prey. Which Remus supposed was exactly what was happening. 

"You know," Fenrir said, his voice still carrying that heavy tone of command, "I'm surprised."

"Of… Of what?" Remus said softly, shocked at himself for daring to even answer.

"That those little lions would _ever_ accept you." He reached out and tugged sharply at the Gryffindor scarf that was wrapped around Remus' neck. But he retracted his hand soon after, as if not to push past Remus' boundaries. But the boy knew better than to believe that Fenrir cared about boundaries at all.

"Why wouldn't they?" 

"Oh, Little One… Lions never accept those that are _different_ into their pride. They're lions, they only want other lions. You are just a scrawny little wolf. So how in the world did _you_ weasel your way into the pride?"

"I… I was just… I was myself." 

Fenrir gave a derisive snort of laughter and he rolled his eyes before focusing back on Remus. "You were _yourself_? You've been hiding all your life, and now you're suddenly yourself around others?"

"How-?"

Fenrir waved a hand idly before he shifted his weight to one foot and crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't think I don't watch you." He flashed a little smirk, baring teeth briefly. 

"Watch… Watch me when?" 

The elder man gave a small shrug of his shoulders, "Whenever I'm in the area? I don't have to stay away from the castle or its grounds anymore. Not while you're here." 

Remus' breath caught in his throat and he stared at the man with wide eyes. "What?"

"Oh," Those perfect eyebrows raised smoothly, too smoothly for someone as terrifying and disgusting as Fenrir. "Didn't you know?"

"Obviously I didn't." Remus said with a frown. "What are you talking about?"

Fenrir's arms fell to his sides and he took a step closer to the teenager. "I can go anywhere you can go now." His eyes narrowed, and lips curved into a chilling smile. "They can't use anti-werewolf wards on the castle if you're attending classes now, can they?"

"I…" 

He hadn't ever thought of that before. He had never even considered that before. Fenrir had access to everything. Fenrir had any possible chance during the full to stake out in the Forbidden Forest and turn a student that tried to sneak out past dark. Just because Remus was going to school, every other student was at risk. And Remus couldn't tell anyone. If he told, then… Then what? Dumbledore would kick him out? Surely the lives of hundreds of students outweighed Remus' need to learn magic. 

Fenrir tilted his head slowly to the side, "Never thought of that, hm?" 

"I… no…"

"A shame, I would have thought if not those arrogant lions, you'd have fit well with the clever birds." 

"No-"

"What? Would they have found out your little secret too quickly, Pup?" He took another step forward and Remus startled. "The lions are loyal but the birds are not, is that it?"

"Fenrir… Fenrir, I don't-" He quickly shook his head, those large baleful eyes looking up at the older man.

"It wasn't like that in my time. Not even the lions accepted a lost wolf into their pack." He lowered his voice to a hard growl. Remus saw his jaw clench and unclench. "Not even when he was a lion for so many years."

"You..?" 

Fenrir growled, moved closer again. He reached out and dragged a long claw-like fingernail down Remus' cheek, cutting flesh, drawing gentle orbs of crimson to surface. He frowned. "You're a lucky one. To always have been this way. To never know life without your gifts. To know exactly how to act to make them accept you."

"Not all of them do."

"But they didn't chase you out of that castle, did they?" He snarled, anger finally surfacing. He grit his teeth. "I was a little lion when I went to those loathsome school. Did you know that, Pup?"

Remus was taken aback. Fenrir? Fenrir Greyback had been a Gryffindor? The thought never occurred to him, he had never thought of such a thing before. But it made sense that he had gone to the school. Remus swallowed and backed up again, until his body met a thick tree trunk. 

"Never thought of that, did you?" Fenrir growled, "I'm sure they don't tell the new little lions." He waved a hand dramatically in the air, "In my time, they told us all the famous wizards and witches that had been Gryffindor. Did they do that for you too?"

The boy gave a shaky nod, a small one, but Fenrir noticed it.

"But they never mentioned _me_ , did they?" He smirked, "I'm famous enough, don't you think? Parents warn their children of the _big bad wolf_. I'm in all the newspapers. Every single full, you can bet there's a story about me, but they never told you little lions that I used to be just like you. Did they?"

"N- No…"

"Your pride accepted a wolf." He growled, "Mine tossed me out."

"Why?" Curious now, Remus couldn't help himself. What if this were to happen to him? His friends all seemed to care so deeply now. But, what about when the novelty of having a werewolf as a friend wore off?

"It was much before your beloved Headmaster's time. When someone became a werewolf, you tossed them away like _garbage_." He snorted, eyeing Remus up and down. "That only started changing because of Dumbledore and you." 

"It-"

"Because of _you_. The rare instance a parent doesn't dump their kid once they've been bitten." Fenrir tilted his head to the other side now, crossing his arms again and standing taller. "Big of your father to do, you know. I'm sure that took guts."

"What do you mean?" Remus said, voice soft. He felt like he really didn't want to know, but the breath that carried the words was out before he could stifle it. 

"You have no idea, do you, Little One? You don't know your own story?"

"I… I know you bit me. I know… I know that."

"But not _why_?" 

"No." Remus shook his head. But he seemed to do so with more force than that nod before, as if he were growing comfortable around the other werewolf. Maybe not comfortable, as he was keeping such a close eye on Fenrir's every movement. But he was definitely less skittish than when Fenrir had first found him. 

"Oh, I bit you because your father can't keep his temper under control. Can't keep his _mouth shut_." He grinned suddenly, showing fangs, "So what's the ultimate irony? Give the man who wishes werewolves ' _nothing but death_ ' a werewolf for a son." He threw his hands up in exasperation, "But no, he kept you. He wanted to help you. Fucking idiot."

"Why-?" Remus' eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

"Because you were raised to play wizard when you're meant for so much greater, Little One." Fenrir moved closer, "You're meant for so much more than hiding behind lions. Wolves have packs, not prides. Wolves are their own." 

"So…" He trailed off, trying to keep this all together. This was so much. So much he never knew, never bothered to ask or question. So much he couldn't even trust due to the source.

"Yes, Pup?" Fenrir asked, that gravelly voice gaining a lilt to it. As if he were used to placating children. 

"So, you got bit when you were at school." Remus said, big green eyes meeting with the blind white and sparkling amber above him. 

"Indeed. In my 6th year."

"And they threw you out?"

"Correct again. Should have been a Ravenclaw, Little One."

"But, but why? Why can I go to school, but you can't? What about other werewolves? Other children? You- You and your pack, you turn children, everyone knows that."

"They are abandoned, Little One. You're the special case here. The others? They join my pack. They grow up among their own kind, magical or not." 

Remus shook his head suddenly, as if to get thoughts to stop. He frowned at Fenrir. "Why did you come here tonight?"

"Just checking in on you, Little One. I was in the area. I smelled you. So I thought I would come say… _hello_." 

"No-"

"You don't believe me?" The man feigned shock, and then gave a snort. "No? All that I told you is true, Little One. So just be wary of those little lions turning on you."

"They're my friends, Fenrir." Remus said, standing taller. 

The werewolf snorted. He looked up at the sky, noting how dark it had gotten and suddenly turned on his heel. He waved a hand in the air as he began to walk into the forest. "Do get back to the castle, Little One. You don't want them to worry. Just remember: You can't trust a pride that doesn't trust _you_."


End file.
